Wednesday, September 23, 2015

MAN WITH NINE LIVES 1940 (MILL CREEK)

Very interesting Boris Karloff vehicle.

A medical researcher decides to visit the reclusive home of a scientist who experimented in cryogenics that disappeared in 1930.

Much to his surprise he finds the doctor frozen, yet still alive as well as the men he took to his house that wanted to stop his experiments.

Karloff is Leon Kravaal, the doctor that has conquered cancer by freezing people and thus killing the cancer. Roger Pryor is Dr. Tim Mason who thaws Kravaal and the others out in order to discover is Kravaal can complete his cure.

As usual human greed takes over and the cure is destroyed, so Kravaal decides to experiment on the recently thawed guests. Karloff's performance is one of the best of his career. He is actually a caring and very trusting scientist whose world changing cure has been destroyed.

The title is very deceptive as well. Nobody has nine lives here, but Kravall and his victims wake up in the year 1940 having lost 10 years. While watching this one sympathizes with Karloff's character and not with the others. They are a greedy and dim witted lot who want the good doctor arrested for murder and any other trumped up charge they can think of.

The print from Mill Creek is very good. I have never seen this film until this initial DVD viewing so I cannot say how it looked on VHS or any other DVD that may have been released.

Recommended thriller.

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